Unit Plan Early Asian American History - Unit Plan
- Grade Level 9th-12th Grade
- Date Published Jun 2023
- Time Period Prior to 1800s - Late 1800s
Introduction
Unit plan (4 instructional days) In this unit, students will develop an understanding about ways that transpacific migration and global trade between Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas led to the arrival of Asian ‘coolies, sailors, migrants and merchants’ in colonial Mexico, Cuba, Perú, and ultimately to the Indigenous territories that would become the United States.
Essential Questions
How did Orientalism shape the viewpoints and perspectives of European encounters with Asia?
What role did European colonialism/imperialism play in the movement of indentured servants, enslaved people and sailors to
the Americas?
What factors or motivations explain the arrival of merchants from the U.S. to Asia?
How were early Asian migrants to the United States perceived by Americans?
What was the coolie trade and why did the United States debate substituting emancipated slave labor with coolie labor?